Joel Phillips
Oct 19, 2004, 03:09 pm
<img src="http://x-mencomics.com/xfan/images/columns/ritlogo.jpg" align=left width=115 height=100 border=0 alt="Reeding Into Things">By Joel Phillips
Why Comic Book Fans Complain So Much
What’s the #1 activity amongst comic book fans? For most, I’d say it’s discussing your favorite comics/series/stories/characters. What’s #2? Complaining about why today’s comics aren’t as good as the stuff you reminisced about in #1. And of those two activities, the complaining is the one we’re all really good at.
We ALL do it, especially around a message board. There’s not a single person who posts on this site who has never complained about anything comic-related. Many people don’t post anything but. And nobody ever thinks this is the best time ever to be a comic book fan… there’s always some era that’s bigger and better, and boy how it sucks for us to be here and now instead of there and then.
All that having been said, we all read comics TODAY. Presumably we enjoy something about something currently being produced, or we wouldn’t be here. This, of course, doesn’t account for people who hate all the comics they buy, but keep buying them anyway… I’ve come to the conclusion that if you do that for a few years you should eventually outgrow it, and if you don’t then you’re obviously one of the special people and should just excuse yourself while the grown-ups talk.
So what makes us so hard to please? Why do we have such an easy time seeing the negative, but such a hard time seeing the positive? Who or what is to blame? I present the following theories:
Possibility #1: We’re Reading the Wrong Comics. A pretty easy conclusion to draw considering the wide amount of material available in comicdom. Saying there are no comics that appeal to you today is like saying there are no movies that appeal to you… I suppose it is possible, but what kind of warped ass, super-specialized taste do you have that you can’t find ANYTHING you enjoy?
Similar to possibility #1 is…
Possibility #2: We’re STILL Reading the Wrong Comics. Or, more accurately, we’re still reading the same comics, and they aren’t right for us anymore. Take my abandonment of my once-beloved superheroes as an example. Comic companies today are, by their own admission, gearing their superhero properties towards younger readers being hooked in by outside uses of superhero licenses (cartoons, movies, action figures, etc.). Many of the stories are intentionally written down to a younger reader’s level, and many writers recycle old storylines intentionally because what worked once can be made to work again, particularly when your readership doesn’t know the difference. All of these things point to one unavoidable truth: publishers are no longer creating superhero comics with readers like me as the target audience. Which is fine, but it explains perfectly why I stopped reading them, and why I was right to do so.
Let me turn into a commercial for a second… Do you remember a time when your favorite superhero comics seemed to be hitting it out of the park with every issue? Do you long for an earlier period when stories seemed fresher, more fun or more exciting? Do you want to reclaim that sense of wonderment, excitement and free-wheeling fun comics used to hold for you?
Then why are you still reading the same thing you were reading when you were twelve? Do you like the same music you liked at twelve? The same movies? The same books or TV shows? People change, and mediums change. I’m not the guy I was ten years ago, and comics aren’t what they were ten years ago. I’m not saying better or worse, just different. And when you are changing, the comics are changing, and the world is changing, you can’t expect everything to change together but the relationship to stay the same. Sure, maybe for some of you, for some comics, things manage to grow in exactly the way you want and the relationship does stay largely the same. But that’s incredibly rare, and I doubt you’re one of the people who are so often disappointed.
Possibility #3: We’re Grading on an Unfair Curve. Criticism never ends with something being bad, it’s always about how bad it is compared to something else, usually something past. The problem with this is that our memories lie to us all the time. Things we liked a few years ago become legends by virtue of their age rather than their objective quality. Have you re-read some of the favorites of your youth recently? Ever surprised at how badly some of that stuff holds up?
Consider the ever-popular X-fan whine “Claremont’s current run isn’t as good as his original run”. Well… what if it is? Maybe Claremont is as good as he ever was, only now we’ve lived so long with the myth of the original Claremont stories that we can’t separate the work from the myth. Maybe the only difference between current Claremont issues and old Claremont issues is that we are seeing modern issues without the filter of age and nostalgia, and we’re used to these kinds of stories so they no longer feel new. Maybe, if we were somehow able to view the past stories in a totally objective manner, with new eyes, we’d have the same opinion of them as we do of current Claremont stuff.
Which is not to say we would dislike old Claremont stories if we weren’t subject to nostalgia… I don’t know, that’s something everyone has to decide for themselves. But maybe the reason nothing ever seems as good as it used to be isn’t because things have gotten so bad, but because nostalgia has tricked us into thinking things were better than they were, making the “decent” seem “good” or the “good” seem “legendary”.
Possibility #4: We’re Malcontents. It must have crossed your mind at some point. I know it’s crossed the minds of any comic book creator who spends sufficient time around fans. Maybe we’re hard to please because… we’re hard to please. Maybe we’re just really uptight and naturally inclined towards bitterness. It’s entirely possible that comic book fans are just a nasty bunch of human beings, always finding fault, incapable of appreciating anything on its own.
It’s a possibility, but I don’t buy it. For one thing we praise the hell out of the olden days, so we must have something in us that is capable of seeing and appreciating the positive. Plus I don’t think there’s anything inherent in comics that anyone who is a fan of them is automatically turned into an opinionated prick… all evidence to that effect notwithstanding.
Possibility #5: Our Expectations Are Too High. Maybe this has to do with the old nostalgia factor, or maybe it’s the fact that our generation has seen the price of comics nearly double in our lifetime, but perhaps we just expect too much from our comics. I think some of this might come from the amount of time we spend discussing comics… maybe we analyze them so much that they lose their magic, making our already high expectations that much harder to live up to.
On the other hand…
Possibility #6: Our Expectations Are Too Low. Maybe we don’t expect enough from our comics. It seems that often times being “fans” has kept us “loyal” and reading bad comics for a long time. When you do that long enough you gradually lower the bar, and the resulting malaise could be our subconscious wondering why the hell we’re still buying this junk.
Possibility #7: Our Expectations Are Ridiculous. Or maybe the real problem is simply that we want stupid things out of our comics. We’re fans of such and such a character and so we always want them around, even when writers have nothing to say with them and their presence becomes detrimental to the story. We’re fans of the idea of such and such a pair of characters as a couple, so we expect writers to force them together no matter how unnecessary or inappropriate to the story it may be. We figure out the way we like things, and we want writers to write to that and preserve that… but try to keep things somehow interesting and fresh at the same time.
Maybe the comics are less to blame than we are for asking more of writers than we have a right to… namely, asking them for anything more specific than the best possible story.
And if none of those float your boat as possible reasons why we complain so much about comics, how about this…
Possibility #8: Comics Today Suck. There’s always the possibility that we think comics suck because… they do. Maybe our demands are perfectly reasonable, all we want is a good story, we’re reasonable people who are capable of seeing the good in things, and we’re not comparing anything to anything else. Maybe it’s just our considered opinion that comics today aren’t very good.
I think each of these plays their role. I don’t think we’re all malcontents, though some of us clearly are. I don’t think all comics today stink, though some of them clearly do. I do believe nostalgia creates an unfair image to force comics to live up to, I believe many of the things we expect writers to do are inherently unreasonable, and I believe that brand recognition and fan loyalty keeps us reading the wrong things for a lot of years, to the detriment of our general comic reading experience.
But honestly? I think the real reason we complain so much is simple: complaining is useful and fun. It really is. As a writer, well-written criticism is more useful than even the most eloquent praise, and the really nasty, biting, sarcastic criticism gives us a twisted giddy rush. The reason we come to message boards is to discuss, and discussion requires back and forth. The love-fest columns and reviews, the ones where everyone agrees and everyone is happy, are the most boring to read, not to mention the most worthless in terms of assessing the value of a work, or a writer, or an idea. Listening to the complaining as well as the praise is how you really figure out what is and isn’t for you, because it gives you a much clearer picture than any one-sided discussion can.
So there’s nothing wrong with complaining, so long as the manner in which one complains allows for a continuation of the discussion. The nature of all drama is conflict, meaning negativity is just as vital to an interesting conversation (or an interesting story) as positive points of view. It’s just important that you pay closer attention to how much complaining you do… not because it’s bad to complain, but because complaining all the time is probably a sign you’re not getting your money’s worth from the comics you buy. Understanding which of the above reasons explains your own dissatisfaction is a good start towards becoming a generally happier comic book reader.
<center><hr width=75%></center>
Recommendation time. Stuff that came out this last week? My favorite hands down was the second volume of The Metabarons (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=30707), from DC/Humanoids. Click the link for my review.
As for the coming weeks, those of you who are following my Winter Reading List (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=30609) should note that my #2 pick, IDW’s Tales of Terror, comes out tomorrow. Furthermore my #9 pick, Escalator, is due to ship next week. If either of these works interests you, keep an eye out. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click the link to read my Winter Reading List. I’ve provided little blurbs for each, plus links to solicitations. Happy hunting!
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.
Why Comic Book Fans Complain So Much
What’s the #1 activity amongst comic book fans? For most, I’d say it’s discussing your favorite comics/series/stories/characters. What’s #2? Complaining about why today’s comics aren’t as good as the stuff you reminisced about in #1. And of those two activities, the complaining is the one we’re all really good at.
We ALL do it, especially around a message board. There’s not a single person who posts on this site who has never complained about anything comic-related. Many people don’t post anything but. And nobody ever thinks this is the best time ever to be a comic book fan… there’s always some era that’s bigger and better, and boy how it sucks for us to be here and now instead of there and then.
All that having been said, we all read comics TODAY. Presumably we enjoy something about something currently being produced, or we wouldn’t be here. This, of course, doesn’t account for people who hate all the comics they buy, but keep buying them anyway… I’ve come to the conclusion that if you do that for a few years you should eventually outgrow it, and if you don’t then you’re obviously one of the special people and should just excuse yourself while the grown-ups talk.
So what makes us so hard to please? Why do we have such an easy time seeing the negative, but such a hard time seeing the positive? Who or what is to blame? I present the following theories:
Possibility #1: We’re Reading the Wrong Comics. A pretty easy conclusion to draw considering the wide amount of material available in comicdom. Saying there are no comics that appeal to you today is like saying there are no movies that appeal to you… I suppose it is possible, but what kind of warped ass, super-specialized taste do you have that you can’t find ANYTHING you enjoy?
Similar to possibility #1 is…
Possibility #2: We’re STILL Reading the Wrong Comics. Or, more accurately, we’re still reading the same comics, and they aren’t right for us anymore. Take my abandonment of my once-beloved superheroes as an example. Comic companies today are, by their own admission, gearing their superhero properties towards younger readers being hooked in by outside uses of superhero licenses (cartoons, movies, action figures, etc.). Many of the stories are intentionally written down to a younger reader’s level, and many writers recycle old storylines intentionally because what worked once can be made to work again, particularly when your readership doesn’t know the difference. All of these things point to one unavoidable truth: publishers are no longer creating superhero comics with readers like me as the target audience. Which is fine, but it explains perfectly why I stopped reading them, and why I was right to do so.
Let me turn into a commercial for a second… Do you remember a time when your favorite superhero comics seemed to be hitting it out of the park with every issue? Do you long for an earlier period when stories seemed fresher, more fun or more exciting? Do you want to reclaim that sense of wonderment, excitement and free-wheeling fun comics used to hold for you?
Then why are you still reading the same thing you were reading when you were twelve? Do you like the same music you liked at twelve? The same movies? The same books or TV shows? People change, and mediums change. I’m not the guy I was ten years ago, and comics aren’t what they were ten years ago. I’m not saying better or worse, just different. And when you are changing, the comics are changing, and the world is changing, you can’t expect everything to change together but the relationship to stay the same. Sure, maybe for some of you, for some comics, things manage to grow in exactly the way you want and the relationship does stay largely the same. But that’s incredibly rare, and I doubt you’re one of the people who are so often disappointed.
Possibility #3: We’re Grading on an Unfair Curve. Criticism never ends with something being bad, it’s always about how bad it is compared to something else, usually something past. The problem with this is that our memories lie to us all the time. Things we liked a few years ago become legends by virtue of their age rather than their objective quality. Have you re-read some of the favorites of your youth recently? Ever surprised at how badly some of that stuff holds up?
Consider the ever-popular X-fan whine “Claremont’s current run isn’t as good as his original run”. Well… what if it is? Maybe Claremont is as good as he ever was, only now we’ve lived so long with the myth of the original Claremont stories that we can’t separate the work from the myth. Maybe the only difference between current Claremont issues and old Claremont issues is that we are seeing modern issues without the filter of age and nostalgia, and we’re used to these kinds of stories so they no longer feel new. Maybe, if we were somehow able to view the past stories in a totally objective manner, with new eyes, we’d have the same opinion of them as we do of current Claremont stuff.
Which is not to say we would dislike old Claremont stories if we weren’t subject to nostalgia… I don’t know, that’s something everyone has to decide for themselves. But maybe the reason nothing ever seems as good as it used to be isn’t because things have gotten so bad, but because nostalgia has tricked us into thinking things were better than they were, making the “decent” seem “good” or the “good” seem “legendary”.
Possibility #4: We’re Malcontents. It must have crossed your mind at some point. I know it’s crossed the minds of any comic book creator who spends sufficient time around fans. Maybe we’re hard to please because… we’re hard to please. Maybe we’re just really uptight and naturally inclined towards bitterness. It’s entirely possible that comic book fans are just a nasty bunch of human beings, always finding fault, incapable of appreciating anything on its own.
It’s a possibility, but I don’t buy it. For one thing we praise the hell out of the olden days, so we must have something in us that is capable of seeing and appreciating the positive. Plus I don’t think there’s anything inherent in comics that anyone who is a fan of them is automatically turned into an opinionated prick… all evidence to that effect notwithstanding.
Possibility #5: Our Expectations Are Too High. Maybe this has to do with the old nostalgia factor, or maybe it’s the fact that our generation has seen the price of comics nearly double in our lifetime, but perhaps we just expect too much from our comics. I think some of this might come from the amount of time we spend discussing comics… maybe we analyze them so much that they lose their magic, making our already high expectations that much harder to live up to.
On the other hand…
Possibility #6: Our Expectations Are Too Low. Maybe we don’t expect enough from our comics. It seems that often times being “fans” has kept us “loyal” and reading bad comics for a long time. When you do that long enough you gradually lower the bar, and the resulting malaise could be our subconscious wondering why the hell we’re still buying this junk.
Possibility #7: Our Expectations Are Ridiculous. Or maybe the real problem is simply that we want stupid things out of our comics. We’re fans of such and such a character and so we always want them around, even when writers have nothing to say with them and their presence becomes detrimental to the story. We’re fans of the idea of such and such a pair of characters as a couple, so we expect writers to force them together no matter how unnecessary or inappropriate to the story it may be. We figure out the way we like things, and we want writers to write to that and preserve that… but try to keep things somehow interesting and fresh at the same time.
Maybe the comics are less to blame than we are for asking more of writers than we have a right to… namely, asking them for anything more specific than the best possible story.
And if none of those float your boat as possible reasons why we complain so much about comics, how about this…
Possibility #8: Comics Today Suck. There’s always the possibility that we think comics suck because… they do. Maybe our demands are perfectly reasonable, all we want is a good story, we’re reasonable people who are capable of seeing the good in things, and we’re not comparing anything to anything else. Maybe it’s just our considered opinion that comics today aren’t very good.
I think each of these plays their role. I don’t think we’re all malcontents, though some of us clearly are. I don’t think all comics today stink, though some of them clearly do. I do believe nostalgia creates an unfair image to force comics to live up to, I believe many of the things we expect writers to do are inherently unreasonable, and I believe that brand recognition and fan loyalty keeps us reading the wrong things for a lot of years, to the detriment of our general comic reading experience.
But honestly? I think the real reason we complain so much is simple: complaining is useful and fun. It really is. As a writer, well-written criticism is more useful than even the most eloquent praise, and the really nasty, biting, sarcastic criticism gives us a twisted giddy rush. The reason we come to message boards is to discuss, and discussion requires back and forth. The love-fest columns and reviews, the ones where everyone agrees and everyone is happy, are the most boring to read, not to mention the most worthless in terms of assessing the value of a work, or a writer, or an idea. Listening to the complaining as well as the praise is how you really figure out what is and isn’t for you, because it gives you a much clearer picture than any one-sided discussion can.
So there’s nothing wrong with complaining, so long as the manner in which one complains allows for a continuation of the discussion. The nature of all drama is conflict, meaning negativity is just as vital to an interesting conversation (or an interesting story) as positive points of view. It’s just important that you pay closer attention to how much complaining you do… not because it’s bad to complain, but because complaining all the time is probably a sign you’re not getting your money’s worth from the comics you buy. Understanding which of the above reasons explains your own dissatisfaction is a good start towards becoming a generally happier comic book reader.
<center><hr width=75%></center>
Recommendation time. Stuff that came out this last week? My favorite hands down was the second volume of The Metabarons (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=30707), from DC/Humanoids. Click the link for my review.
As for the coming weeks, those of you who are following my Winter Reading List (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=30609) should note that my #2 pick, IDW’s Tales of Terror, comes out tomorrow. Furthermore my #9 pick, Escalator, is due to ship next week. If either of these works interests you, keep an eye out. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click the link to read my Winter Reading List. I’ve provided little blurbs for each, plus links to solicitations. Happy hunting!
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and are not reflective of ComiX-Fan or its other staff in general.